Galway and Connemara

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I had had about 5 hours of sleep the night before, and with a full day of talking and walking with Carla, Sandy, and Ellen around Adare and the Cliffs I was totally wiped out. It added insult to injury to then arrive in Galway in the rain; but I actually felt like a total badass, like I was really roughing it--hey, any story I can tell myself to keep a positive attitude, I will. Needless to say though, finally finding Kinlay hostel was a huge relief. I got inside and the receptionist remembered me because we'd had a crazy phone conversation when I'd booked the room. I'd tried to tell her my email address and had to spell it several times using animal names (eg: R as in rabbit). It was pretty funny, we'd had a moment. It was interesting putting a face to the voice I'd heard. She was really nice and had a good sense of humor about the whole thing. It was only 46 euro for two nights, which was less than what she had quoted me on the phone, plus there was free breakfast.

Wet and sore from walking with my backpack and suitcase in tow, I opened my assigned door and found two Finnish teenagers--my roommates. They were fun; and very inclusive and sweet to me. I had planned to just relax that night since I was so exhausted, but when they invited me to join them and guy from Canada that they'd met, Jon, to go to a club, I decided to just go. After all, that was what I was there for, taking the opportunities I had and living in the moment. So I went, and I'm glad I did; it involved foam, a fire-breathing woman, and more Heineken. It was pure fun. Jon was basically doing exactly what I was doing in Ireland--traveling alone on vacation. I think more people should try it.

I had also wanted to try to see some Irish music that night, but by the time we left Kennedy's it was too late and all the pubs with live music had closed for the night. We each had plans to get up early in the morning for our respective tours, them to the Cliffs of Moher, and me to Connemara, so we decided to call it a night and went to bed. We met up in the morning and planned to converge again after our tours were over.

Connemara was a very peaceful and beautiful region to tour. Willie, my Connemara tour guide and bus driver, let me sit up in front with him in the "queen's seat" of the 16-seater van. There were only 10 of us on the tour, and it was a beautiful sunny day, all day. We passed harbors, a leprechan house, a fairy tree, salmon farms, and a zillion goats, sheep, and cows. We went to Kylemore Abbey, to a Connemara marble quarry, the replica cottage used in the movie "A Quiet Man," and a lot of other things--I even saw a black sheep or two, which apparently happens to 1 in 10,000 sheep.

My favorite part was driving through the mountains and visiting the gothic cathedral near, and the grounds of, the Abbey. The garden was green and very well manicured, the main house was nice, though not many rooms were open, but the gothic cathedral was the coolest thing. Almost haunting, with multi-colored marble pillars inside, and aerodynamic guardian angels in place of gargoyles on the outside. The estate as a whole had a very peaceful, serene quality; I literally felt at peace there, it was an amazing feeling. On the drive back in the 16-seater, I was so at peace I fell asleep--nodded off, rather--on the way back to Galway. (Or maybe that was just exhaustion 😊

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Photos

Connemara
From the Queen's seat

Kylemore photo op
I had to...